


Lack of Reception

by SHSL_Gross



Series: Linked Universe: Modern AU [3]
Category: Linked Universe - Fandom, The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms
Genre: Gen, I know that theres way with emergancy contacrs and stuff, Modern AU, but this is more fun, lost in the forest part 2
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-15
Updated: 2019-07-15
Packaged: 2020-06-29 05:51:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19823869
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SHSL_Gross/pseuds/SHSL_Gross





	Lack of Reception

He was being stubborn, and he was fully aware that he was. About now Legend would be telling him that was acting out of character, and Wind would be telling him that things were okay. But nothing was okay. 

Warriors grumbled to himself as he ran a hand through his already messed and knotted hair from several days worth of sweat and dirt without a shower. He hated it. He hated being stuck in the same clothes he had been wearing nonstop. He hated that his scarf was filthy and that the fabric had ripped and began fraying after it was gotta caught of a sharp stick. He hated the constant weight on his back from his bag, and the ache in his feet from constantly walking and even his most comfortable pair of boots now rubbed and gave him blisters.

Most of all he hated the useless chunk of technology in his hand that taunted him. He was letting it consume his mind. Take over every logical sense and plan that he had once had at the start of his, what was supposed to be a fun hiking trip for a weekend away by himself. So long now did the start of it when he was taking photos, blissfully ignorant to the fact that those very photos would be now the thing he hated the most due to the circumstances he was now it. 

How those photos he had taken at the start had only been the start of his battery draining, and now he was useless to charge it. Though the remaining battery life on his blasted phone was of his least concern right now. He was still decent for now, so he could let that one thing be pushed back to the back of his mind, as his main concern came back to the front.

His lack of reception. The last time he had seen even a lick of signal was hours and hours ago when he had received a text from Legend, expressing his concern for the radio silence from Warriors, and Warriors could recall the way he had laughed bitterly at that. That had been only at the start of him coming off the path and getting lost.

Now he was so deep into the woods he had no idea where he was, and no longer was he leading himself by the map or compass, but by his phone as he hoped he headed uphill to find some sort of signal tower to help him. 

So far… Nothing.

It hurt. Everything hurt. And he felt his fingers tighten around his phone, and he squeezed the stupid thing as it mocked him with absolutely nothing showing in the upper right hand corner. He leant against a nearby tree as he paused for breath for the first time in hours. Before he hadn't allowed himself to, hoping that if he just kept going that maybe, just maybe, luck would shine down on him and a cell tower would appear from nowhere and answer all his problems.

During this moment of respite, Warriors finally allowed himself to check the time and to look up at the darkening sky with blurry and heavy eyes. Poor vision wasn't a problem of his. Never had he understood when others had talked about not being able to read the words on the book close to them, or not being able to see the leaves in focus or read the signs at the end of the hall. But maybe now he did…

He blinked a few times in hope of clearing the feeling from behind his eyes, but all it did was aid in making it worse. A tired ache and restless buzzed through his arms and legs, his eyelids growing heavy.

"Shit.." He hissed through his teeth and he pushed himself off from resting. No yet. He couldn't. He knew the basics of camping, that's why he had decided on trekking through the woods in the first place. Another regret to add to the ever growing pile of them. He couldn't rest here. Whilst it felt safe and he was sure he would be left alone, he couldn't risk it.

He couldn't risk it because it was still early enough that he could keep going for a few more hours. Keep chasing the tail of the rabbit that lead him further and further down the rabbit hole, or in this case deeper into the woods. There was still a chance that he'd find signal, even for just a moment to be able to send an SOS to someone. Anyone…

That mentality didn't last much longer. Honestly if the once cold, but now warmed metal of his phone wasn't the only thing keeping him hopeful, he would've thrown the thing into the ground in frustration.

Nothing! Still fucking nothing! Worthless. What was the point of networks advertising their amazing service and 4G plans when really in the biggest time of need, there was nothing. Now only the slightly lower number next to the battery symbol proved to show that the thing was still responsive.

Another heavy sigh as he shrugged off his bag, letting it fall into the uneven ground with a huff, and soon he followed it. He'd allow himself to rest, but not sleep. He couldn't…

\--

Cold and dark, Warriors opened his eyes when he felt a stick poking into his back, and his arm dead underneath him. For a few short moments that was all he focused on as he shifted about on the bare ground, at first trying to just get feeling back into his arm as he sat up and rested the dead limb on his lap.

It was just a few quiet moments later that he finally woke up properly, snapping immediately to attention of where he was, what he had just been doing, and what his earlier goal had been.

He felt no better for the little sleep he had had, and now he had realised what he had done it in fact just made him feel worse. Every ache was tenfold what it had been earlier, the cold seeping into him hurt, and even though he wasn't yet in his feet he could already feel the blisters rubbing. 

How quickly everything had gone down hill, he would never know but not only was he lost, no he had stupidly dozed off at the absolute worst time. 

As he pulled his bag closer to him, Warriors remembered about his phone, and quickly started rummaging around for where he had last left it. Not in any of his pockets. Not in his bag…

Slowly a small seed of fear was planted in his stomach, but he kept looking.

After what almost felt like forever, he found it again buried under some leaves that at some point in his few hours of sleep he must have tried to use as a sort of pillow.

With absolute no success, not only just causing the crick in his neck to hurt more, but to also cause small sticks and leaves to best themselves in his already messed up hair.

What he expected to see as he pressed the button on the side of his phone was absolutely nothing. Just the same lockscreen that he had had this entire trip; a selfie of him and Wind, and which only served as a twisted reminder of what was at home, the time, and the slowly depleting battery.

What he saw instead made his heart sink, and made him feel sick.

_29 missed calls._

_52 new messages._

From Granny.

From Legend.

From Wind.

How?

When?

There had been absolutely no service the entire time had been walking, absolutely nothing, and then as he made the biggest worst decisions of his life of deciding to rest, it proved to be even more terrible.

He had been asleep, and missed what could have possibly been the one single chance he could have had for sending a message.

Now all he could do was stare at his lock screen, the photo of him and Wind that had only been taken the day before this failure of a hiking trip, staring back at him.

Both so happy.

Both so excited.

And now Warriors didn't even want to think about how his younger brother was feeling, let alone acknowledge his own feelings.

And there was no way he could bring himself to look at the unopened messages from him, nor the amount of missed calls from him.


End file.
